4.01.2014

bp's science: how a font can save money

I really like letters, font, calligraphy, and the like. I will remember a person's handwriting after seeing it once and I will never forget it. I love the way words look on paper and think often about how letters alone and strung together look. Take for instance, the letter B. It is a very cool letter and it always looks great in various fonts. On the other hand, and sorry about this L, but you aren't all that cool when it comes to typeface, although when exhibited in lowercase and when it comes to handwriting, there are more creative and neat possibilities. So in reality, no specific letter lacks coolness, but all have grand potential. One of my dream jobs would be SIGN MAKER. But, I digress. In truth, my intro to today's bp's science got away from me and was designed to preface this:

Did you hear about the kid who studied the amount of ink differing fonts require and determined the government could save a lot of money using Garamond rather than Times New Roman? In his first study, the teen printed out BIG versions of common letters (e, t, a, o and r) in four different fonts (Times New Roman, Garamond, Century Gothic, and Comic Sans) and determined how much ink was needed for the letters by weighing them. From there he made estimates on how much money could be saved if the least costly font, Garamond, replaced Times New Roman in government documents. And since all of us have bought a jet ink printer for $40 thinking it was an amazing deal (!) and then realized a cartridge of ink costs just the same and you'd have to replace that cartridge every time you printed out 12 sheets of paper; we know that ink is expensive and anywhere you can save makes a difference. Props to this student for thinking outside of the box when it comes to science projects.

And let's just say I am very glad Comic Sans was not the least costly font. I confess, I am not a fan of that font, even when it comes to the letter B.

p.s. this is no April Fools joke. All of the above is true. But happy April Fools Day!
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